The great staircase was held with soldiers, and Dick swore that there were Maxims in the corridors."

Bellamy sighed.

"We shall hear the roar of bigger guns before we are many months older, Dorward," he declared.

The journalist glanced at his friend keenly. "You believe that?"

Bellamy shrugged his shoulders.

"Do you suppose that this meeting is for nothing?" he asked. "When Austria, Germany and Russia stand whispering in a corner, can't you believe it is across the North Sea that they point? Things have been shaping that way for years, and the time is almost ripe."

"You English are too nervous to live, nowadays," Dorward declared impatiently. "I'd just like to know what they said about America."

Bellamy smiled with faint but delicate irony.

"Without a doubt, the Prince will tell you," he said. "He can scarcely do more to show his regard for your country. He is giving you a special interview - you alone out of about two hundred journalists. Very likely he

Reader Reviews

This is one of the best books I've read by Oppenheim. The narrative is interesting all the way through, and he creates a memorable character in Laverick, the everyman protagonist who gets caught up in something bigger than he can imagine. Oppenheim was also remarkably prescient about the events leading up to WWI. Anyone who likes old-fashioned intrigue will find this book to their liking. As they put it back in the day, a cracking good story!